In August, Atari announced further plans to make games for the LGBTQ community. Not only did the plan include a partnership with LGBT Media Inc., the team behind LGBT social app LGBTQutie, but it also meant that Atari’s dormant mobile game Pridefest would be getting a significant revamp.

To Atari fans who had been initially excited by Pridefest and of the company’s support for real-life LGBT Pride events, the renewed support was welcome. Though there were questions about how far Atari was willing to go in terms of catering to LGBTQ people as an audience and whether their criticisms of Pridefest had been heard.

So, ahead of the the Pridefest relaunch, I spoke to Atari’s senior marketing director Tony Chien to find out more.

Earlier this week, Atari released Pridefest. An LGBTQ Pride festival sim, the game hires the player to be the Mayor of a fictional city that is dull, grey and in need of some sprucing up. So via the method of spreading ‘Fun’, the game’s rainbow-coloured currency, it’s up to players to build new stores and house and restore colour, like an inclusive version of de Blob.

However, despite the free to play mobile title (iOS and Android) seemingly meaning well, some have suggested that the game exploits the LGBTQ community, taking advantage of calls for more diversity. But does Pridefest really do a disservice to its target audience? Or is it just a bit of innocuous fun? We take a look a the controversy to see what’s what.

However, that’s not all that Atari is doing to show just how progressive their politics are with new mobile game, Pridefest The game allows players to create their very own virtual pride parades, rainbows, floats and all and it’s now available on iOS and Android devices. Find out more after the break.

The gaming industry has a rocky history when it comes to LGBT pride and representation. While many gaming companies support their LGBT employees (for example, EA was awarded full marks for LGBT support by the HRC), it’s incredibly unlikely that we will see LGBT characters in games and that these characters will be playable. In fact, when we have see LGBT characters in games (such as with Dragon Age: Inquisition and Mass Effect) it has been a divisive issue.

This is slowly but surely changing though, with many developers being outspoken about the need for diversity in our games, and having conversations about the ways in which companies support LGBT gamers. Atari is the latest to get involved in this, having now announced that the company is celebrating LGBT pride month and will be supporting NYC Pride.